Here are some memories from director Michael Custance from 1980:
“‘The Unborn’
A play for BBC2 ‘Playhouse’ series. My first one-off play for TV! A psycho’ thriller. Earlier I had made ‘Empire Road’ for the same producer, Peter Ansorge.
With only two days in the studio it was tough to get all the special effects done in time.
There was one happy, or not so happy fluke.
The pregnant mother played by Mary Larkin, opens a parcel she received and discovers a human heart, beating and alive. Terrified she throws it across the room only for it land stuck up the lens hood of the camera. The brilliant cameraman held it in focus all the way ending with a giant full screen image of a bleeding beating heart which shocked the studio into a horrified silence. It was almost too horrifying for an audience but Peter, the producer, said to keep it in the show.”